Twelve Photographs
by Elven Star Angel
Summary: Twelve photographs of Lily and Scorpius together, from the first as kids - to the last one on their wedding. Each photograph has a story or an incident behind it. And each has the two of them in it. Each chronicles their story, their bonds and their love.


_My first LilyXScorpius! *jumps and down* It's okay - gimme your worst! And also know that I am absolutely, thoroughly, totally against the Scorose pairing... it even _sounds_ like a bloody _disease_ :/  
So, yes, I hope you like this - and read the whole thing! And add it to your alerts' list! And maybe favourites' list? Oh and review it too! *grins wildly*  
Read up!_

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_Series Summary:_  
Twelve photographs of Lily and Scorpius together, one for each year as they grow - from the first when Lily is nine and Scorpius is eleven to the last one - their photograph on their wedding day.  
Each photograph has a story or an incident behind it. And each photograph has the two of them in it. Each photograph chronicles their story, their unbreakable bond, and ultimately their love. A love story - narrated in photographs.

xxx_  
_

_Chapter Summary:_  
It's Rose's birthday! But the three Potter children refuse to attend the party?  
Includes a baffled Ginny, a nine year old Lily (who shouldn't know certain words!) and a Scorpius Malfoy who (almost) saves the day.

xxx

_Chapter Begins:_

"Come on kids!" Ginny bustled into the room, her skirts and hair flying around, "Why aren't any of you ready?" Her face took on a menacing scowl, "We'll be late. Go get ready. Now."

The three little, black heads looked up at her. The smallest one spoke, "Can we please not go, Ma? Please?" She implored.

Her slightly older, but not the oldest, brother widened his green eyes too, "Yes Ma. Please?"

The oldest one adding softly, "We don't want to go, Ma."

Their Ma scowled again and looked at each of them in turn. Taking in their pleading eyes and desperate looks, the scowl slipped off- "Why?" She asked them, bewildered.

The eldest answered first, "Because it's Rose's birthday." "So?" Their mother countered, "She's your first cousin." He shrugged haplessly, "That doesn't mean we have to get along." The younger brother supplemented, "None of us get along with her, Ma. Or with the other cousins."

"Except Victoire, Dominique, an' Louis." The sister said innocently, her wide, brilliant green eyes still imploring their mother.

"Besides, Scorpius is coming over!" Her brother jumped gleefully. Ginny fixed him with a warning look, "He's invited too, you know?"

Her eldest shrugged again, "Sure he is.  
But it's not just us who don't like her. Rose doesn't exactly like _us_ either."

Ginny threw her hands in the air, "She's your _cousin_, kids!"

"But she doesn't like us." Her daughter whispered in a small voice. Ginny's expression softened at their innocent faces, "What makes you say that, love?"

Her daughter's lips drew into a tight line, as did her sons'. The two boys shared a quick look between themselves, debating whether an explanation of any sort would humour her and unknown to them- her daughter, and their sister, steeled herself before muttering, "She called me a 'fucking bitch'."

All three of them gasped. Her brothers turned to her in disbelief. Her mother sat on the floor with a 'thump'. "What?" "Why?" "When?" They all asked her simultaneously. She slid further down on the floor and hunched her shoulders, "I'm sorry." Her eyes filled with tears that she bravely held back, "I'm sorry. Don't be angry with me. I didn't want to say the word. But..." she faltered, "Rose hates Me.", she whispered to the blue carpeted floor. Then, bravely, she wiped her eyes and now they shone with a fiery defiance. Her brothers straightened up and looked at her in alarm, almost already knowing what she was about to say. 'No! Don't say it Lily!' They tried to warn her with their eyes, 'Don't say anything Lily! Wait!' Lily looked at both of them and quickly shut her lips tight, heeding their warnings. The two boys let out identical sighs of relief.

Their mother, uncharacteristically, missed their entire non-verbal interaction. Her mind still too focused on what she had just heard. Dazedly she got up from the floor saying, "Okay kids. We aren't going for the party. I'll just be back, okay?" She looked at her eldest son, "James, just look after your brother and sister, alright? I won't be long." And she stumbled out of the room. They heard her harried steps on the staircase and then silence. She must've left the house.

The two young boys turned to their even younger sister, the board game they were playing before their mother came in long forgotten on the floor between them.

Albus tugged on his messy hair and regarded his sister with worry. James chewed his lip and alternated between looking at Albus and looking at Lily. Lily looked at the two of them, patiently, her lips still pressed together in a thin line, waiting for one of them to speak.

James broke the prevailing silence, "Should we call Teddy?"

Both his younger siblings shook their heads, "No," Lily said, "no use." Albus nodded, "He's with Great-Aunty-Andy anyway. Let him be. We'll sort it out ourselves. Wont we, Lily-kins?"

Both James and Lily nodded. James bent to look her in the eyes, looking into a reflection of himself, he asked what all of them were expecting- "Why didn't you tell us?"

She took a deep breath and tried to act grown-up, confident and in control. Her brothers grinned at each other. This was the Lily they knew, not the one who had wiped her tears away five minutes ago.

She picked up one of the small houses they were playing with and rolled it between her forefinger and thumb, watching it change colour. The two boys shifted closer to her, their shoulders almost touching.

"You remember when we had all gone to drop you two to Hogwarts after Christmas?" They both nodded silently.

"That day I was talking to Scorpius. I wanted to wish him a belated Merry Christmas because I couldn't wish him when he came over that day. You do remember, right?" Her brothers nodded again, remembering the day, two days before Christmas, when Albus had invited his new best friend over for the day and Lily had been down with the flu. She'd watched all their games and fun from upstairs all alone. Even her introduction to the young Malfoy heir had been from her perch on the banisters.

"So when we reached the station- I saw him with Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy at the end of the platform. I asked Ma if I could go say hi to them and she said, 'Ok. Don't take too long or we'll get worried.' So I went to wish them and we spoke for about five minutes. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy are very nice people. In fact they even gave me some chocolates they'd got for Scorpius. Why exactly does everyone call them bad?" She looked at her two brothers questioningly. They both, in turn, looked at each other and shrugged. James answered, "Maybe you should ask Ma and Dad?" Lily nodded then shook her head and hurriedly got on with her account- "Anyway but Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy then had to rush back home because Grandmother Malfoy wasn't well. She had caught the flu too!... So those two left and told me to take care of Scorpius since I am so responsible and nice and make sure he got on the train safely." She smiled sweetly at the memory and her brothers smiled too, "Obviously they were joking, Lils."

She nodded and made a face at them, "Of course they were! Scorpius is bigger _and_ older! He can take care of himself!" She grinned. "Anyway, then we both started talking and I said to him that my brother and he were best friends- so did that mean that we two were also friends? He said maybe. But he was laughing. So I asked him to be my friend and he said Yes. So now he's my friend too." She smiled triumphantly at Albus who stuck his tongue out at her playfully.

"Then Ma called me back because Uncle Ron and Aunty Hermione came- I _had_ to go say hello. And even Rose was there but obviously when she saw me - she ran away.

"After saying hello to everyone I went back to Scorpius because he was standing all alone. I thought of calling him to our group so I rushed over to him. But Rose was already there and she looked _very_ angry at me. In fact the two of them were talking- well Rose was but when Scorpius saw me - he started talking to me. So I told Scorpius to come there and he happily asked me to help lift his owl cage so we could go. He started dragging his trunk and then you both came to help him. But before I could go behind all of you, Rose held my hand, _very_ _hard_, and didn't let me move. Then she shouted at me for a long time but very softly so no one else could hear. I didn't understand half the things she said. She always uses such big words and shows off so I really didn't understand." She rolled her eyes dismissively and her brothers snorted too- typical Rose. "But I think she wanted to talk to Scorpius _alone_ and was angry when I came.

"But actually I hadn't said anything when they (or _she_) were talking. It was _Scorpius_ who turned to me and started talking to _me_. I think Rose fancies him..." Her brothers' eyes widened and they nodded at the possibility. She went on- "I even asked her if she was angry because I was talking to him and she liked him. But then she got _even_ angrier and almost slapped me! I told her to shut up and leave me alone - I was just being nice to her and she was the one being rude! That's when she called me 'a fucking bitch'."

Her brothers looked at her, not letting the pity and sympathy show on their faces, they knew she wouldn't appreciate it. Instead, James tactfully commented, "That was very brave of you to tell her to shut up." Albus nodded in agreement- "Yeah. She once punched me in the nose when I told her that!" They all laughed at the time when she had punched him hard and the blood that had spurted from his broken nose landed on her and she had promptly fainted at the sight of it.

"Ok so after I was _brave_, and she said that- she went away and into the train. Around that time Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy came back and I went to them to ask how Grandmother Malfoy was. I think they really like me because Mrs. Malfoy got me a white lily and _even_ _more_ chocolates! They said Grandmother Malfoy was okay and she was sleeping. Then Scorpius also came over and we talked again. And then I started asking them meanings of the words Rose had said."

Her brothers nodded in understanding. It was seemingly very common for her to go around asking others what some words meant, especially the ones Rose used. She'd ask her brothers too at times but they were almost always as clueless as her. "They laughed a lot while explaining and asked how I knew such big words. I told them I didn't know the big words and that's precisely why I was asking them!" James and Albus grinned. "So as usual, most of the big words she used didn't even make sense and the rest actually had very simple meanings! Like she said I had 'an infinitesimal brain'." She pronounced the word with great care and a slight frown, "And it actually just means - a _very_ small brain." They all laughed and Albus pinched her nose, "She's a show off, little Lily-kins."

Lily swatted his hand away and shifted closer to James. "Then I asked them what 'afuckingbitch' meant. I thought it was one word." She giggled. "But they all three became very serious and didn't answer me at all for a while. Mr. Malfoy asked me where I heard it and I told him the truth - that Rose called me that.

"They all got very angry and Mrs Malfoy patted my head like I was a kid and explained that it was a very bad word, good children never use it, even big adults like Ma, Dada and Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy don't use it... she said it was a very bad abuse and told me never to tell it to anyone." She smirked as she recounted that and her brothers rolled their eyes - Lily _was_ small enough to be confused for a five year old at times...

"That's why you didn't tell us earlier? Because you didn't want to say a bad word?" Albus interrupted. She nodded, "I don't want to say such things to other people. What if someone feels bad?" James patted her head, "Lils, you can tell us anything, you know that, right?" She nodded again and smiled at them innocently, "Should I continue with what happened?"

Seeing their heads bobbing up and down in unison, she started again- "Mr. Malfoy was also furious! So was Scorpius. All three of them were looking at Rose. And she was looking at Scorpius and smiling! Like nothing happened! Anyway, Mr. Malfoy turned to Scorpius an' me and said that we should never talk to her. She isn't a nice person." All three of them split into identical, wide grins. James said, "I'm glad more people know now!"

"And then even later when everyone started getting on the train- Scorpius went an' found you two and a few more other people to sit with in the compartment because he didn't want to sit with her!" She giggled.

Albus made a face- "He knew all that and he didn't tell me!"

James looked at his younger brother sourly, "He didn't want to make it a big deal. Just like your Lily-kins here." Lily nodded, "He's my friend too now!"

They heard their mother holler up to them from the kitchen- "Kids! Albus, James, Lily! Scorpius is here!"

"We're upstairs! Lily's room!" Albus shouted back and after a few moments they heard him rushing up the stairs with a plate of biscuits that their mother had sent up for the four of them in one hand and a box wrapped with blue glitter paper in the other. He stopped at the entrance to her room and surveyed the three of them sitting on the floor, with Lily halfway in James lap, stretching away from Albus who was menacingly trying to pinch her nose again.

"Why aren't you guys ready?" Scorpius frowned at Lily's summer dress, Albus' pyjamas and James' old shirt and jeans. Lily ran up to him and hid behind his back, using him as a shield against Albus who was still after her. "We aren't going!" Lily squealed as she escaped Albus' lunge again. Scorpius thrust out the hand with the gift and made Albus stop. Lily was still clinging to the back of his shirt and breathing heavily and giggling at the same time.

"Albus!" Their mother shouted again, "You STOP trying to tickle Lily!"

Scorpius moved into the room, putting himself between the two siblings and handed over the plate to James and asked again, "Why aren't any of you ready? Or do you plan on going like _this_?"

Lily took a biscuit and explained- "Nope. We aren't going. Even you don't have to if you don't want to." She grinned. Scorpius was still confused and turned to James and Albus. James explained everything from the start and ended with a shrug, "You can still go if you want. You were invited too."

Scorpius grinned at him, "Nah. I was going only because you three were! And a few of the other guys from our class... But who cares?" And he plopped down heavily on the carpet and eyed their Magical Life board. Lily and Albus sat on either side of him.

Albus prodded him with his elbow- "You knew that Rose called her... _a bad word_?" Scorpius looked uncomfortable but nodded twice, "Yeah. Lily told us. She didn't know what it meant. It made me _furious_. Lily is just nine. And Rose is two years older but she still abused her! And she knew what the word meant too!

"I mean, I knew Rose has always been mean to you guys. Albus, you keep telling me so many times… But I thought it wasn't a big deal so I never reacted so much. But that day was the limit! Even mom and dad were _so_ crazily peeved. They very explicitly told me to stay away from her. We have a bad reputation anyway and we can't afford to spoil it anymore. And mom thinks she's a very bad influence anyway and we just might become like her. So she told me to keep you away from her too, Al. And all our other friends. But _she_ still follows me." His mouth twisted into a grimace. "And I also thought bringing the abuse's incident up would only make matters worse for all of us. Even dad told me not to tell, because it was Lily who experienced it after all and I had no right to tell. Not that I was going to anyway." He looked at Lily and smiled. The three siblings smiled their identical grins back at him and Lily gave him a hug.

"That's what friends are for!" He looked at the half played game before him, quickly trying to change the topic to a more fun one - "Can we start a new game? Can I be green?" He pleaded. They nodded and cleared the board to start a new game- "I want blue!" Albus yelled, "Yellow!" Said James and Lily- "Purple!" And they started playing amicably- Albus rolling the dice first.

While James rolled his dice and read his cards, Scorpius reached to the blue glitter paper covered box and handed it over to Lily, "Here. I'd actually got it for Rose... But I had no clue what she'd like so I got something you would like... 'cos you're the only girl I'm friends with and you're special!" He grinned and she grinned back cheekily and accepted it. James and Albus paused to look up at them and Albus scowled- "Hey! No giving my Lily-kins any hand-me-downs!"

Scorpius rolled his eyes and explained, "Think as if the gifts actually for her and I was just going to give it Rose." Albus frowned as he still didn't understand and James shook his head- "Forget it Al. And anyway it's probably chocolate or something. That'll get spoiled if someone doesn't eat it. And since he's bought it- might as well give it to Lily if it's a girly thing. _He_ can't keep it for himself if it's a girly thing, right?"

Lily jumped up and down impatiently, interrupting James and silencing Albus and Scorpius who had both opened their mouths to say something further, "Can I open it? Please?" All three boys laughed and Scorpius nodded, "Sure! Wait! Lemme get my camera- I want a photo!" He grinned devilishly and pulled a small one out from his jacket. Albus pulled it out of his hand and turned it on. Lily, ignoring all three of them- like only a girl with two older brothers could- hurried to tear up the packaging and pulled the lid off. "Yay!" She squealed so loudly and happily that Ginny shouted back from downstairs.

Lily paid her no mind too and looked up at her two brothers and squealed again- "Non-melting ice cream!" And jumped up and down while still seated and placed the box down. She grabbed Scorpius' shoulders- enveloping him in a smothering bear hug and kissed him hard on his cheek. Scorpius was laughing too and James had a wonky smiled that showed how much he loved his little sister and his brother's best friend but would still laugh madly when they fell down in a heap.

Albus grinned too and took a photograph right from when she squealed the first time to the part where she kissed Scorpius and they both fell down and James started guffawing.

Scorpius straightened up and ran a hand through his hair, "Glad you like it." He grinned and she smiled back impishly. "There are six ice creams in there for each flavour. There's chocolate, vanilla, mint and strawberry." He explained to her and her smile got even wider as she started clapping her hands. Then he asked something Albus or Harry would usually ask her- "And how many ice creams does that make in total?" He quirked one eyebrow. She frowned momentarily- "six... into..." she counted the flavours-" Six into.. four. That is- twenty-four! Silly Scorpius! That was so easy!" She slapped her forehead while the three older boys laughed.

James commented- "It's really odd... but y'know Scorpius? You got Rose the exact thing she hates the most in life - Icecream!" Albus and Lily laughed again with Al contributing- "Yep. And our Lily-kins loves it exactly that much!"

Scorpius laughed again, "Well. Today's my lucky day!" And rolled the dice for his turn, "Okay everybody - hand me over 200 galleons!"

The other three groaned, "Nooo!"

He poked Lily's shoulder, "Fine I'll exempt you if you give me one scoop of icecream." He smirked. Lily gave a horrified look and immediately paid the fake 200 galleons, "Never. Those icecreams are mine!"

Three days later he gets a letter from her mother, Mrs. Potter, asking him to come over for lunch and have icecream with Lily and that _only he,_ not Albus, not James, is invited for that. So he better come. Needless to say- Mrs. Malfoy readily allows him to go with a happy smile on her face and he floos over in less than fifteen minutes of receiving the letter - with a copy of the photograph taken that day which he plans on giving to the three young Potters.

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_Did you honestly reach the bottom? Read through everything up there? If yes - congratulations! You've just read my longest written chapter ever! I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it! *smiles*_  
_Next chapter will be about Lily and Scorpius again (as you probably guessed already) and will occur when Lily is ten and Scorpius twelve._  
_Head tip - The Potter siblings have a two year age gap between each of them and The Malfoy kid is in Albus' year... Not that I thought the above chapter was confusing in any way - but still ...  
_

_And - For now the rating is a good, sweet, innocent K. But don't count on it kids! This story might get more mature and well, unsuitable for my cute little readers under the age of 10 or 13 or even 17! Sorry, guys *sad face* But see - the story writes itself, the writer's hand - is just an instrument! So don't hate me *smiles pleadingly* But do look at the rating before reading, alright? Sorry again and thanks too! *hugs the kids*  
_

_Oh and next chapter will be up - God knows when... *pokerface*_  
_I haven't even started writing it - usually I do for my other fics - like have a cache of extra subsequent chapters so I can upload soon... So anyway - I'll start writing now - But upload it only after I get 10+ reviews or so! *fistpump*_

_Thanks for reading though! Have a good day! Or uh... whatever kinda day you want to have... *smiles and waves*_


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